Hey tigerlilly. I work in the park and will be at the Mammoth Hotel gift shop this winter. As long as your family loves the snow I can't see why you wouldn't have a blast. The road is plowed for cars from Mammoth to Cooke City. If you want to head down to Old Faithful (or anywhere else in the park) you have to take over-snow travel (snowcoach or snowmobile), which would be a unique experience in itself. Snowshoeing and cross country skiing, as well as a hotel to stay in, is offered out of Mammoth and Old Faithful.

Yellowstone is winter is one of the most special places on the planet. Teens will enjoy snowmobiling out of Mammoth Hot Springs and if you are lucky you'll see Big Horn Sheep, Moose, Bison and much more...what you won't see are many other people

Great shoeing and XC and the light for photography is special. Be prepared for frigid cold...enjoy!

Never been lucky enough to go there in full-on winter, but if I did, I'd check into spending a couple of nights over in Cooke City. The road from Mammoth over to Cooke is open in winter. On the way to and from, maybe you could ski in the Lamar Valley. Anyway, I was in Cooke once after a fall snowstorm and it was spectacular, kind of like this from the main street:

tigerlilly wrote:a) Bozeman - to Mammoth - to Old Faithful - to West Yellowstone - back to Bozeman? b) Or reverse?d) Bozeman to West Yellowstone to Mammoth and stay put.!

Keep in mind that you cannot drive most of the roads in Yellowstone in winter.You can drive to Cooke City and Mammoth from the north. But that's it. All other roads in Yellowstone are not plowed in winter and open only to snowmobiles and snow coaches.

So if you drive to Mammoth, that's where you'll leave you car if you go further.No roads into the park are open for autos from West Yellowstone either. Visitors usually come to West and leave their vehicle there and take a snow coach to Old Faithful.

You might also look into the Yurt lodging inside Yellowstone. A snow coach will bring you and your ski or snowshoe gear to the yurts. You can stay there for a few days and enjoy the solitude.

Hi TL! We took a flight delay coming back from Bozeman on a ski trip two years ago. I think free heels with skins would beat snowshoes for this. But well worth it. Winter enhances some of the geothermal features and the crowds are gone.

I've been told wolves are very active in Lamar Valley in the winter. My friend worked in Mammoth last year and she said there was a pack around Mammoth all winter as well. I'm not sure where the bison hang out in the winter, but I know they stick to the roads more since they are much easier travel than untouched snow. Lots of waterfowl should be seen along the Firehole River since it is thermally warmed and doesn't freeze.

tigerlilly wrote:Great Photos, John. Where is the best area to find animals?

In the road and along. We had trouble even getting the car around the Bison. I have a photo of one practically inside the car. North of the Park is good also. The road from the North Gate follows the remains of an old tourist railroad from the 19th century.

Inside the Park you have to be careful, I drew the ire of the cops for that Buffalo shot ^^^.

Such a difference from summer. In summer, one Bison, can jam traffic. A possible bear sighting and a thousand people will gather with the 5 grand binocs. I saw more large animals in half a day winter, than a 4 day family trip in summer.

Great news, we're going! Here is what I have learned, for anyone thinking of doing this in the future.

1) Check the hotels in the park frequently. They are full, right? Don't give up and lose hope. Just wait. People book these hotels years in advance. Then they cancel 2 weeks before hand, because they had to changed plans and can still get a full refund. Result? You get a room, when it was previously booked solid. Yeah, You!

2) Delta has a hub in Salt Lake City. They had the best flights and prices. Bozeman was most expensive. Billings was reasonable.

tigerlilly wrote:Great news, we're going! Here is what I have learned, for anyone thinking of doing this in the future.

1) Check the hotels in the park frequently. They are full, right? Don't give up and lose hope. Just wait. People book these hotels years in advance. Then they cancel 2 weeks before hand, because they had to changed plans and can still get a full refund. Result? You get a room, when it was previously booked solid. Yeah, You!

I can confirm that. On previous trips to Yellowstone or Zion, Bryce, Gand Canyon we wanted to get rooms in the parks for every night we weren't backpacking. Usually I could only reserve stuff for about 1-2 nights out of the whole 1-2 week trip, but in both cases we would call new places depending on where we'd be a few days ahead of time, and ended up we got rooms every time.